(La Porte, IN) - La Porte High School students were dealing with their emotions Monday after a classmate was killed in a collision with a school bus while riding his scooter.
The La Porte County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 15-year-old Julien Hernandez.
Just after 4 p.m. this past Friday, the boy was traveling eastbound on a sidewalk parallel to South Avenue on a scooter.
The bus, also eastbound on South Ave., stopped for a stop sign. While the vehicle was beginning to turn right onto Michigan Avenue, the boy slammed into the passenger side door while coming from behind.
Police said it was raining at the time of the accident.
Hernandez was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead about a half hour later, said LaPorte County Coroner Lynn Swanson. The boy, winding up underneath the chassis of the bus, was not run over by any of the tires. The cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma to the head.
LaPorte Police Chief Paul Brettin said the boy was riding an unmotorized Razor scooter at the time of the incident, driven by the power of one's feet
“You stand and you steer it,” he said.
Brettin said the investigation will be finished once the results of a blood screening are known, so as to determine whether the bus driver was impaired by any foreign substances. He emphasized the blood test is standard procedure in any fatality or crash involving a motorist with a commercial driver’s license.
“There are no indications to show there was any impairment here. This is just a horrible accident,” he said.
La Porte Schools Superintendent Mark Francesconi said counseling would be offered on Monday to anyone at the school needing help dealing with grief, declining any further comment.
In a prepared statement, the school administration expressed deep sorrow for the untimely loss of the boy, saying "This loss has greatly impacted our community, and our thoughts and hearts are with the student’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time."
School officials also declined to release further details, choosing to strictly allow law enforcement to shed light on any findings.
Teachers, counselors, and social workers, along with New Prairie School Corporation staff members and mental health experts from the Swanson Center have been made available to anyone seeking help in dealing with the loss.
“We will remember our young student with respect and love as we keep his family in our thoughts and hearts as they grieve this unimaginable loss. Please join us in keeping this family close in our thoughts as they mourn this heartbreaking tragedy,” school officials said.
Brettin also encouraged the public to refrain from making any further disparaging remarks or speculation on social media.
“For people to assume other things or say things about the victim and driver is just completely wrong. Nobody would want somebody making these types of comments on social media or elsewhere if it was their family member involved,” he said.
